ESPN2 Sets HD Launch

ESPN said Monday that it will launch ESPN2 in HD Jan. 6 (4 p.m. Pacific time, to be exact).

It will cut the electronic ribbon, so to speak, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Debut programming will be three back-to-back college basketball match-ups.

Mothership ESPN has been airing HD programming since March 30, 2003.

Between the two services, says Bryan Burns, VP, strategic business planning and development, ESPN will carry 6,000 hours of HD in 2005 comprising 300 events, plus over 2000 programs--like Sportscenter and NFL Today, as well as originals like Hustle, the Pete Rose made-for, and a new scripted series Tilt, about poker players, which debuts Jan. 13.

Burns was in Washington Monday to participate in the FCC's kick-off of a consumer HDTV/DTV education .